Dr. Lalitha Sundararaman, guest editor of the February ASA Monitor, speaks with Dr. Adam Striker about patient and provider diversity. The wide-ranging discussion touches on what health care inequities look like, how to practice cultural humility, language discordance, caring for transgender patients, gender disparities, and more. Recorded January 2023.
Lalitha Sundararaman, MD, is a board-certified anesthesiologist and pain specialist. Dr. Sundararaman is a member of several ASA Committees, an editor for the ASA Monitor, and a published Tamil poet. She is also the founder and co-director of the Prana Holistic Foundation in India, committed to combining allopathic, ayurvedic, and acupuncture techniques for women’s health, pain management, and wellness.
Dr. Sundararaman has won several awards including “best academic achievement in residency” and an “accomplished emerging faculty” award in India. Trained as an anesthesiologist in both India and the U.S., she has a global perspective on anesthesia care. Her ideal world would be one with no inequities of health care and access for all. She is especially interested in anesthesia for newer innovative procedures outside the OR.
Adam Striker, MD, FASA, is currently Chair of the ASA Committee on Communications, and is the series editor for ASA’s Central Line podcast series. He is an Associate Professor and serves as staff anesthesiologist in the Division of Cardiac Anesthesia at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and in the Division of Pediatric Anesthesia at Kentucky Children’s Hospital as part of the Joint Congenital Heart Care Program. He received his undergraduate degree in engineering from Purdue University and his medical degree from Indiana University. He completed his pediatric anesthesiology fellowship at Northwestern University.
Curated by: ASA Marketing and Communications
Date of last update: January 30, 2023